By Sam Bennison

Performing arts

Theatre Northwest doubles their accessible seating

Feb 20, 2024 | 5:07 PM

PRINCE GEORGE— Theatre Northwest has made their productions more accessible to people in wheelchairs with the addition of new chairs in the front row.

The chairs have doubled the theatres capacity from nine wheelchair users per performance to nineteen. The freestanding chairs are able to be removed from the wall which allows them to create wheelchair spaces all along the front row or comfortably seats a wheelchair user with their mobile companions. Theatre Northwest looks to increase their accessibility features as they continue to meet the needs of the community.

“It’s hugely important for us as an organization and community to make sure as much as possible is accessible to as many people as possible,” explains Marnie Hamagami, artistic producer for Theatre Northwest. “Theatre Northwest has been deeply committed to accessibility for many years and over the past three years has hired and employed an accessibility coordinator who has made projects like this possible.”

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The seats were funded through B.C. Gaming grants as well as IREN, formerly known as Iris Energy.

“We noticed over the past couple of years that more and more people in wheelchairs were coming to our relaxed performances specifically, and we had a couple of times last season where more people wanted to come and who needed wheelchair accessible seating than what we could provide,” says Heidi Klepsch, Accessibility Coordinator for Theatre Northwest.

The theatre looks to continue improving the accessibility as they work to install new hand railings.

“We’re also exploring other ways to make our productions more accessible to people who may have auditory processing conditions or if they need captioning. We’re looking into possibly, possibly doing that down the line,” continues Klepsch.

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Email: sam.bennison@pattisonmedia.com